Big 3 proves worth

44Thrilla · Apr 28, 2010

It didn’t have to be an adventure story at the Garden last night but it was.

It could have just been a simple romantic comedy, which is where the Celtics [team stats]’ Game 5 playoff meeting with the Miami Heat appeared to be heading after the C’s took a 21-point lead, 67-46, with 6:56 to play in the third quarter.

But there was nothing romantic about the Heat and nothing comedic about Dwyane Wade, who scored eight points in the next 4 minutes to get Miami back into a game that should have been over. By early in the fourth the lead was down to three, 73-70, and the local populace was on edge.

But then The Not Quite So Big Three stepped up and erased the Heat and the locals’ anxiety in barely two minutes. They took over the game at the moment it seemed to be becoming one.

It was fitting on such a night that Ray Allen began Miami’s demise with a wide open 3-point jumper because he led the Celtics with 24 points and was 5-of-6 from 3-point range. It was symbolic and more than a little relieving that he did not stand alone.

Right after Allen’s 25-foot jump shot, Kevin Garnett hit a 17-footer, Paul Pierce [stats] followed with a twisting drive to the basket and then Garnett hit another 20-footer. Suddenly, the Celtics had the lead back to 12 with six minutes to go and isn’t that what the three of them were here to do?

The Heat had the look of high school seniors the week before graduation - it was all over and they knew it. The rest was just marking time until the final score read 96-86.

And the Celtics did what most needed to be done. They avoided going back to Miami and a Game 6 with the Heat that no one really wanted.

“The last two years we’ve gone to Game 7 in the first round and it can wear on you,” Allen admitted. “Throughout the series we hit adversity but I’m glad that we did take care of business in five. It will only be a struggle from here on in.”

At this juncture of what has been a long and troubled season, the Celts didn’t need to play any more basketball games than necessary to get them to the inevitable - a showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers and The Big One, LeBron James.

“Rest is always good,” Garnett said. “Anytime you get a chance to rest knick-knack injuries it’s always a good thing.”

That the Celtics were the superior team was clear from the outset. Miami was a team with The Little Big One and little else. Such a team should have won exactly as many games as it did in this series - one - which came on a night when Wade was a nine-alarm fire. Last night, however, he was merely a controlled burn. He poured in 31 but he was 10-of-24 to do it, simply not hot enough long enough to consume the Celtics again.

How good this flawed Celtics team proves to be is still at least open to debate because they remain alive and kicking. For a few minutes last night it looked like that might not be the case but at the moment of truth not only did The Truth speak up but so did KG and Allen, the smoothest jump shooter in Christendom.

Together, The Not Quite So Big Three stepped up, combining for 15 of the team’s final 17 points to turn a game that was slipping away into one fully under control.

That’s why Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers brought them all together three years ago and regardless of how things end up this season they reminded the Heat and everyone else in the NBA that they still know what they’re in Boston for. They’re here to do what they did last night when it began to look like the Miami Heat might burn them.

Together they doused the flames and put out the Heat for good.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/...celtics_veteran_stars_show_they_still_got_it/

CelticKing · Apr 28, 2010

Let's just enjoy watching them for next couple of games, you never know what will happen in off-season. (trades, etc)

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Big 3 proves worth

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Big 3 proves worth

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